Council to give free tendering training to boost local businesses

Cheshire East Council is to hold another series of free workshops to help business people learn how to win public sector contracts.

The procurement training events will be provided by the council’s arms-length Skills and Growth Company and are targeted at local businesses in Cheshire East.

The latest free workshop is being provided to help smaller businesses in Cheshire East learn how to win public sector contracts.

The public sector is a massive market opportunity. By 2020 government hopes to award 33 per cent of their procurement budget to smaller businesses out of a total UK public sector spend of around £200 billion a year.

Cheshire East Council alone spends around £260m annually on contracts, supplies and services with third parties. Winning a public sector contract can help your business to grow.

The next workshop is taking place on 26 September 2018, from 9.30am to 5pm at Macclesfield College, Park Lane, Cheshire, SK11 8LF.

Future workshops are planned for December 2018 and March 2019.

The September workshop will show small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) from Cheshire East how public sector procurement works, the different frameworks in public sector contracts, how to identify the best opportunities and how to write a winning bid. The workshop is suitable for businesses new to the tendering process or looking to improve how they tender.

The one-day workshop aims to cover the whole process from start to finish, focusing on three key areas:

● Find – Looking for tendering opportunities;

● Bid – Practical bid management skills; and

● Win – Ways to ensure the bid submission is a winning one.

The interactive session will help SMEs to:

● Understand public sector procurement processes;

● Represent their financial position;

● Identify their strengths, weaknesses and selling points;

● Utilise techniques that make the bid process efficient and effective;

● Quickly build up a knowledge base of procurement processes; and

● ‘Punch above your weight’ when participating in procurement processes.

Councillor Paul Bates, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for finance and communications, said: “Tendering for a public sector contract can seem a pretty daunting prospect and these free workshops provide excellent, practical guidance to help businesses develop their bids and make them a success.

“Cheshire East is always interested in receiving tenders from local organisations and businesses and these free workshops can significantly help to demystify and simplify the process.

“The council is keen to support local firms and businesses and works to ensure as many of our quality services as possible are provided locally, while continuing to deliver excellent value for money for the people of Cheshire East. It is important as the council spends around £260m of public money annually on contracts, supplies and services with third parties.”

Breakfast, lunch and refreshments will be provided. Breakfast and registration is at 9.30am for a prompt 10am start. The session finishes at 5pm.

To book a place on this training workshop, visit: www.skillsandgrowthportal.co.uk

Or email: info@skillsandgrowth.co.uk